The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team captured an exciting 12-9 win over the visiting Tigers of Occidental College in Saturday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition on Farquhar Field. While avenging an early-season loss to Occidental, the Bulldogs used a strong second half to push past the visitors in a physical showdown that included six lead-changes and seven ties.
During the first half, the teams battled in back-and-forth fashion with neither squad gaining more than a two-goal edge.
With the score knotted at five apiece, senior defender Ally Leipzig (Newton, MA) caused a huge Oxy turnover to set the stage for a momentum shift. Leipzig then passed the ball to sophomore midfielder Stephanie Garrett (San Diego, CA), who basically ran the length of the field before firing it past the Tiger goalkeeper.
On the ensuing draw, Garrett gained possession for the Maroon and Gary. Moments later, senior attack player Allie Hoffler (Draper, UT) connected with senior midfielder KK McCaslin (Portland, OR) for a beautiful goal, resulting in the eventual 7-5 halftime lead.
However, the Tigers came out firing in the second half, putting up three-straight scores to take an 8-7 lead with 24:34 left on the clock.
But Redlands rallied back to even the count when Hoffler took advantage of open space on the near end-line, converting an unassisted goal for the Bulldogs.
With score tied at eight, the Bulldogs made a goalkeeper switch, sending sophomore Izzy Baez (Zionsville, IN) in to patrol the cage.
The teams traded netters once more, leveling the count at nine each with 18:55 to play.
Less than 20 seconds later, Garrett pulled in the draw control before feeding a perfect pass to McCaslin for the man-up goal.
Garrett and McCaslin each found the back of the net once more, resulting in the 12-9 lead with 15:22 remaining in the game.
The Maroon and Gray successfully possessed the ball while stepping up its defense to maintain its three-goal margin. In the final 15 minutes, Redlands recorded four caused turnovers, with senior midfielder Jacky Craycraft (Trabuco Canyon, CA) accounting for half of them.
Overall, Garrett led all players with five goals and one assist, while McCaslin provided a hat trick and freshman midfielder Breanne Rideout (San Diego, CA) notched two scores.
Hoffler paced the contest with four assists to go along with one goal. After the game she spoke about the difference in the second half and the importance of the win.
Baez finished with the win after allowing only one goal and making one save in nearly 23 minutes of action. Leipzig helped to solidify the Bulldogs' backline by providing a team-high three caused turnovers.
Redlands (8-3, 5-1 SCIAC) welcomes Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges to Farquhar Field on Wed., April 9, for a 7 p.m. match.
